Alpine Lakes Wilderness: The Complete Hiking Guide

The Cascade Mountains are draped across the center of Washington state, and in the center of the Cascade area, one can find the spectacular Alpine Lakes Wilderness, home to over 700 lakes. Much of this can only be accessed by 600 miles of hiking trails. This guide is a perfect way to find one’s way into and out of this beautiful area. The book opens with a chart that lays out 100 hikes, broken into easy, moderate, and hard hikes. Each shows the distance, elevation gain, high point elevation, whether or not it is an overnight hike, whether it has views, the best season to hike, and whether there is a lot of trail traffic. The bulk of the book has each hike written up in detail. Directions to the trailhead are followed by a very detailed discussion of what one will encounter on this particular trail, a good close-up map of the trail, some history of this particular area, and gorgeous, color photographs taken along this trail. Back-matter includes a guide to the place-names, land manager’s contact information, a bibliography, and an excellent index. The writing is terrific. This is a must-have for hikers.